Tigers softball campaign comes to disappointing end at Selma in playoff quarterfinal game

The Bears, who instead advanced to the semis, beat Lemoore 6-4, the majority of those runs coming in a big second inning when Selma managed to push four runs across the plate. The Bears added another in the third and one more in the sixth to distance themselves from the Tigers.

Lemoore completed a solid season despite the second-round playoff disappointment. The Tigers completed a 12-10-1 season, finishing 6-4 in the West Yosemite League. Selma, the No. Three seed in Division 3, improved to 19-9 overall and are scheduled to face Templeton in the semifinal game on Tuesday (May 14) at Templeton.

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“I think we had a really good season this year,” said Tiger Coach Dionne Ewing. “We never had any stretches where we had a big run of losses. “We actually had a few losses, but they (always) fought back,” she said of her persistent team.

The Tigers, behind the batsmanship of McKenzie Dutra and Jacky Esquer, scored four times in the game, including twice in the fifth inning to narrow the Selma lead to 5-4. But that was as far as the Tigers could go as Selma pitching held the Tigers scoreless the final two innings.

“It was a great game,” said Ewing. “We were aggressive right off the bat, and we let our presence be known right away.” The Bears weren’t any pushovers though, said the Tiger coach. “They hit really well and executed well.”

Both Dutra and McKenzie each drove home two runs to lead the Tigers. Esquer was exceptional at the plate. She was three-for-four in the game while Dutra had a pair of hits to go along with her two RBI. Kara Tellefsen had a pair of hits for the Tigers.

Leslie Segura started for the Tigers, pitching 4.2 innings before giving way to Tomi Ford.

“We left some runners on,” said Ewing. “It was a great game, and they fought the entire way. I was very proud of them. If you have to go down, you go down like that. They fought to the very end.”